Molveno. The name strikes like our teeth at the exit of the cold water, yet echoes as softly as an evening by the lake. It was the last one, our final pilgrimage on this Italian land beneath the Brenta Dolomites, where champions were born and many of our dreams took flight. Places have a soul; Molveno’s is made of towering peaks, icy waters, and generous mud. What follows is a postcard of memories told in the first person, because emotion, in its truest form, can only be shared individually.
“The most beautiful journeys are not the ones we take, but the ones that bring us back.”
The Landscape
I came, I saw, and once again I was conquered by nature’s spectacle. Amandine from Belgium captured it best, calling it “Fifty Shades of Molveno”—a mountain that changes color a thousand times a day. It’s not a backdrop, it’s family. She tells me that even after many visits, the “wow” effect never fades. The place is magical. It’s the first bond that unites us all, this ever-changing yet eternal landscape.
But magic is also in the cold that bites. For Bruno, racing here for the third time, the water temperature remains an unforgettable memory. Comfort isn’t the goal—challenge is. The body forgets the pain; the soul remembers the effort made in a divine setting.
“We don’t remember days, we remember moments. And those moments often begin in water that chills the blood.”
Behind the Line: The XTERRA Family
If nature brings us together, it’s people who hold us close. The World Championship feels like a family reunion. Stories pour in about this sense of community, a bond that transcends flags and categories.
Jens from Germany puts it perfectly. His favorite memory was bringing five friends along to share the race atmosphere. “Sharing memories and moments with friends who have supported me for so many years.” The podium means nothing without the shoulder that helped you climb there. That’s the family we choose, the one we build through muddy trails and aid station tables.
Fabio, our Italian athlete, even without reaching his top form, remembers it fondly: “It was a celebration with so many Italians and foreigners, very fun, and one of the few times it really felt like a community.”
“Sport teaches us to push ourselves; friendship teaches us to find ourselves.”
There are those unspoken moments, gestures of kinship that define who we are. Jean-Yves, an age-group athlete, recalls his pride in being invited to the elites’ table at the ceremony—the intense hug from triple world champion Arthur Serrières, who called him by name. I still remember swimming a few meters with him the day before. “When an elite invites you like that… yes, it leaves a mark.”
There’s no elite and no amateur when the mud is the same for everyone. There are only people, bound by the same passion.
The Achievement
The finish line isn’t an ending—it’s a meeting point. Success only truly matters when it’s shared.
Christophe will always remember crossing the line “in front of [his] daughters,” sure of his second-place finish. The moment was a family’s reward. Loïc went one step further, embracing his wife before crossing the line. “The result is for her too. It’s a shared achievement.”
“The path may be solitary, but victory is always collective.”
Mila, racing in the Junior category, described her finish as “a unique moment, a powerful emotion that made me proud of all I’d accomplished.” Pride is only complete when it can be offered to those who helped you reach it.
For others, Molveno is a symbol of hope and beginnings. Tessa remembers it as her “first world championship,” the start of a bright journey ahead. Anna Zenders recalls improving her performance year after year—a personal redemption, another step forward.
Molveno now bids farewell. It leaves us its climbs, its mud, and the memory of an adventure both grueling and vital. As Hannah Lee Young said, Molveno is “a place of character,” unique and impossible to compare.
And us—we leave with one certainty: XTERRA is not just a race. It’s home.
